Beachgoers along the Jersey Shore have had to make a choice this summer: wither in the sun or shiver in the water.

That’s because steady southwest winds are pushing warm water away from the beach and pulling colder water up from the bottom of the ocean, experts say.

The process — called upwelling — has forced people seeking relief from the scorching sun to brave water temperatures that are nearly 15 degrees below normal for this time of year in some parts of the state.

“What’s caused this cold water to get to the beach and be so widespread is that for the last two weeks we’ve had really persistent winds from the southwest,” said Josh Kohut, an oceanographer with Rutgers University. “That has led to a prolonged push of water — cold water — up to the beach.”

Thursday afternoon, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported the ocean temperature at the Atlantic City Steel Pier was near 55 degrees. The average temperature for this time of year is 69 degrees.

But the colder-than-normal temperatures haven’t kept swimmers away, according to Rod Aluise, chief of the Atlantic City Beach Patrol.

“There’s people in the water,” he said. “I don’t know how they do it, but they do it.”

Aluise said last summer the city was spoiled and enjoyed warmer water temperatures. “Now we have the other side of the coin,” he said.

Most of the impact of the upwelling is concentrated in the southern half of the state, Kohut said. “That’s due partly to the orientation of the coast,” he explained. Still, cold temperatures have reached farther north. Seaside Heights registered a low of 56 degrees in the last two weeks, according to Jay Boyd, chief of the borough’s beach patrol. Normally, he said, the ocean temperatures would be around 68 degrees.

In Spring Lake, chief lifeguard Janet Carbin said temperatures have been fluctuating between 65 and 69 degrees, when the average should “absolutely” be in the low 70s

“It’s tolerable, but you are not in for a long time,” she said.

The water off Asbury Park wasn’t unbearable for Dakota Miller. She jumped a few waves in her multicolored peace sign bathing suit.

But the 9-year-old did admit the water was chilly “when you first come in.”

“When the waves came and hit me, I started screaming because it was fun and it was cold,” said the girl from Lebanon, Pa., who was spending the day at the beach with her dad. But, she said, you get used to it.

Bathers have the best chance of finding warmer water in the most northern reaches of the state’s coastline.

“Basically as you move to the north, it starts to warm up,” said Jon Miller, a professor of coastal engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology.

NOAA reported a water temperature of 78 degrees in Sandy Hook Thursday afternoon, more than 10 degrees warmer than usual.

Experts said that is due in part to warmer water flowing in from Raritan Bay.

But the rest of the state is waiting for the wind to change.

Jim Bunker, the observing program leader at the National Weather Service’s Mount Holly office, said that should start happening today.

“It actually looks like winds are going to be a little bit more out of the north” until Saturday evening, Bunker said. “That will probably make it a little bit better.”
But Miller said don’t expect warmer temperatures right away.

“It usually takes a couple days for the full impact to basically push all that water out of the way,” he said. “It’s not an immediate feedback.”

Staff writer Tomás Dinges contributed to this report.

How warm are water temperatures near you?

Hover over the points on the interactive map below to find out how warm (or bitter cold) ocean temperatures are near you.